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Kitchen Aid or Hamilton .. for Mixer ... which is best as product wise and experience, as well in price ..

I been wondering what to get my mother in law for Christmas, i wanted to get her something from all of us and special, she deserves something special after all she has gone thru in the past years.

so, when we were looking at the stuff on the paper for black Friday for the fun of it, she pointed that she needed one of those "stand hand mixer" .. but in the ad paper for black Friday showed $399 & other one was $259 and so on ... WOW!!!

Of course, we know she needs it and deserves it, we are going to ask my fiance's others siblings see if they can help. either way we will be getting her one for Christmas.

but my concern is .... which is best? what are the advantages to it? which one is the best one? seems like Hamilton are cheaper, but if we were to buy a Hamilton, will there be any concerns?
are they heavy? if so ... how heavy? does the stand mixer comes with other features aside from the mixer?
cons vs pros ... kitchen vs Hamilton -- which is best?
any insights on these will be very helpful and appreciated.
as well, if anyone knows a good great site that has them for good decent price :-D ??

I have a Kitchen Aid. I love it. It has the option to buy various attachments to things other than mix with it - a pasta attachment, sausage attachment, etc. I don't know anything about Hamilton mixers, so I can't say if one is better than the other, but I love my Kitchen Aid.

As far as heavy - yes, they are heavy. Very heavy. It's not like a hand mixer that you can just grab and go. It takes both hands to lift and move, which really sucks, because I can't just leave it on my counter all the time, I have to move it when I want to use it. lol But the weight is worth it for how easy it is to use, and how easy it makes it to mix up cake batter, cookie dough, bread dough, etc. And I can do much bigger batches than I ever could with a hand mixer.

I have both a Kitchen Aid, and a Hamilton Beach Mixer both stand mixers.. My Kitchen Aid was about $300 My Hamilton Beach was about $150. They are both great, and I have to say Hamilton Beach stands behind their product and provides great customer service. The Kitchen Aid is much more heavy duty and can mix through anything, but the Hamilton Beach isn't bad, it would be a pretty great gift.

Mine is the Hamilton Beach Heritage Model. I use both mixers when I'm baking cookies at Christmas.

Clarify one thing please - you say she said "stand hand mixer" - so which is it, a stand mixer, a hand mixer, or one that is a stand but can be taken off to use as a hand mixer? Kitchen Aid is the best stand mixer IMO. Hamilton - eh, you get what you pay for. But if she wants one that can be stand AND hand - then you need to look at the cheaper brands, not Kitchen Aid.

Like these other moms are pointing out, it really depends on what she does with her mixer. Is she wanting to mix bread dough, and make sausages, etc. Or is she more just a cakes and cookies type of person? If she mixes big batches of bread dough, then I think the Kitchen Aid is worth the money. Its a very durable mixer, and can handle tough jobs, but the down side is the motor makes it weigh a ton so your mil might not want to be taking it out of the cupboard everytime she needs it. Its more for just leaving on the counter. If she just does cookies, cakes, etc.. then the Hamilton is fine. I have one that Ive had for over 15 years (approx), and I love it for batters, etc. It comes with dough hooks for breads but doesn't really do the job I like for that....

Hands down a Kitchenaid by far is your best investment EVER!
I have had two in 18 years (just sold my first one a year ago), and the new one I have i can't get enough of!
Makes great breads, cakes, cookies, puddings, even grinds meat to ground beef if i need it..
I always RAVE about a Kitchenaid

For a stand mixer, I vote for the Kitchen-Aid. I've never seen the Hamilton Beach, but every cooking show I've seen has only had the Kitchen-Aid (including Alton Brown who I think is great). I've owned my K-A for 5 years and it has not let me down once. It is heavy, so it should probably be a permanent fixture on her counter-top if you choose K-A. A friend of mine has had hers for maybe 10--though she did upgrade recently to the bigger mixing bowl. There are typically only about 3 accessories that come with it (hook for dough, whisk, and your standard paddle mixer). There are many accessories to be had for the K-A, but, of course, at an additional cost. Costco has had great discounts on them. As far as a handheld mixer, I cannot speak to that as I've got my grandmother's GE mixer (which is like 40 or more years old) and still works superbly.